Revision as of 08:08, 17 April 2023 by 172.96.84.249 (talk) (Created page with "A trip down the pet food aisle nowadays will boggle your brain with all the wonderful claims created by manufacturers for his or her particular products. But what's the realit...")(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A trip down the pet food aisle nowadays will boggle your brain with all the wonderful claims created by manufacturers for his or her particular products. But what's the reality behind all of this marvelous hype? You might be very surprised...let's have a look.1. Niche claims. Today, for those who have an indoor cat, a canine athlete, a Persian, a Bloodhound, a Yorkie, or a pet with a tender tummy or itchy feet, you can find a food "designed" just for your pet's personal needs. Niche marketing has arrived in a large way in the pet food industry. People prefer to feel special, and a product with specific appeal will sell better than a general product like "puppy food." But the reality is that there are only two nutritional standards against which all pet foods are measured (adult and growth/gestation/lactation)-everything else is marketing. Your very best bet is really a food made with good quality things that satisfies "All Life Stages."2. "Natural" or "Organic" claims. The definition of "natural" adopted by AAFCO is very broad, and allows for artificially processed ingredients that most people would consider very unnatural indeed. The term "organic," however, has a very strict legal definition that the USDA has ruled applies to pet food. However, some companies are adept at evading the intent of these rules. For example, the name of the company or product may be intentionally misleading. For instance, some companies use terms like "Nature" or "Natural" in the brand, whether or not their products fit this is of natural.3. Ingredient quality claims. Many pet foods claim they contain "human grade" ingredients. This can be a completely meaningless term-which is excatly why your pet food companies get away with using it. The same pertains to "USDA inspected" or similar phrases. The implication is that the food is made using ingredients that are passed by the USDA for human consumption, but there are various ways around this. For example, a facility might be USDA-inspected during the day, however the pet food is made at night following the inspector goes home. The utilization of such terms ought to be viewed as a "Hype Alert."4. "Meat is the first ingredient" claim. A claim that a named meat (chicken, lamb, etc.) is the #1 ingredient is generally seen for dry food. Ingredients are listed on the label by weight, and raw chicken weighs a lot, since contains a lot of water. If you look further down the list, you might see ingredients such as for example chicken or poultry by-product meal, meat-and-bone meal, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, or other dry protein. Meals have had the fat and water removed, and basically consist of a dry, lightweight, high-protein powder. It generally does not take much raw chicken to weigh more than a great big pile of the powder. Not only that, but the "chicken" found in dry food is actually a slurry around 90% water; so in reality the food is founded on the protein meal, with very little "chicken" found.This has become a extremely popular marketing gimmick, even yet in premium and "health food" type brands. Since everybody is currently deploying it, any meaning it may once have had is indeed watered-down that you might equally well ignore it.5. Special ingredient claims. Many of the high-end pet foods today depend on the marketing selling point of people-food ingredients such as fruits, herbs, vegetables, and a number of supplements such as for example glucosamine or probiotics. However, the amounts of these items actually present in the food are small and not therapeutic. Vegatables and fruits are often scraps and rejects from processors of human foods-certainly not the complete, fresh ingredients they need one to picture. Such ingredients don't provide a significant health benefit and so are only a marketing gimmick.It's a jungle on the market...Pet food advertising has become extremely sophisticated during the last few years. It's important to know very well what is hype and what's real, so that you can make informed decisions about what to feed your pets.Dr. Jean Hofve is really a retired holistic veterinarian with a special interest in nutrition and behavior. Her informational website, http://www.littlebigcat.com, features a thorough free article library on feline health insurance and pet nutrition, in addition to a free e-newsletter. Dr. Hofve founded Spirit Essences Holistic Remedies for Animals (http://www.spiritessence.com) in 1995; also it remains the only line of flower essence formulas created by a veterinarian. She is an avowed Medicine Woman within the Nemenhah Native American Traditional Organization who uses holistic remedies as part of body-mind-spiritual healing.